Cooling Off

A day out in Birmingham with E, my first visit to the city in just over nine years. There was more opportunity this time to wander around on what turned out to be a warm and incredibly beautiful day. A lot seems to have changed here in recent years. New Street Station has been utterly transformed. The public spaces are a revelation. The canalside development is on the same scale as that besides the Thames in London. The new city library is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. That was the venue for the Saboteur Awards in the evening, the reason we were visiting in the first place. We didn't win but it was a great event and we met some lovely people.

Indeed, more than anything, my takeaway is the lovely and beautiful people we met in Birmingham, from literally every corner of the world. It was wonderful to see so much self-expression in the way people presented themselves. Much helped by the warm weather, there seemed to be so much confidence about.

These fountains are right opposite the library and provided some fantastic photo opportunities. The kids, and their parents, were having a blast. It was very hard to choose which shot to post today but this one kept drawing me back as telling the strongest story. Another shot that keeps on giving, when seen large, at least.